Bernard Pollard's hit on Anthony Gonzalez ruffles plenty of feathers

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on November 6, 2010, 3:30 PM EST

Two years ago, a low hit on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady ended the future Hall of Famer’s season in Week One. Though legal at the time, the hit from Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard resulted in a narrowing of the quarterback strike zone.

Five days ago, Pollard (now of the Texans) hit Colts receiver Anthony Gonzalez out of bounds, tearing his PCL and ending his season.

We’ve confirmed with the league office that Pollard has escaped a fine. He has expressed confidence regarding the legality of the play in question. “As long as I get my hands on him before he goes out of bounds, I’m
good,” Pollard said, per Dale Robertson of the Houston Chronicle. “And I did.”

Still, the incident has caused some to take a closer look at Pollard. Regarded by certain league insiders as an emotional player who can’t control his temper, one league source estimates that Pollard, a second-round pick of the Chiefs, was off roughly half of all draft boards when entering the league.

Despite his reputation, Pollard became a starter in his second NFL season, and he has remained a starter. Known for periodic big hits but his fair share of whiffs, the thinking is that the Texans keep him on the field because he’s the best option they currently have.

That could change come 2011, if the Texans take steps to beef up a defense that has not held up its end of the bargain as the team tries to get to the playoffs for the first time in its nine-year history.

If/when Pollard leaves Houston, one place he shouldn’t bother to look for work is his home state of Indiana. Given that the Colts went out of their way to point out that Gonzalez has been lost for the year due to an out-of-bounds tackle, the thinking is that team president Bill Polian will want no part of Pollard.

Also, now that Gonzalez has been lost for the year, don’t be surprised if Polian and the Colts try to press the league office into changing its mind regarding the decision not to fine Pollard.

Bernard “Hitman” Pollard plays by the rules and is just a hard nosed player. Too many sissies are playing the game now and it’s refreshing to see someone that plays the game they way it should be played.
The only people unhappy with his play are two of the biggest sissies in the league( tom Brady and Gonzalez). Of course Polian will complain, that’s all he does if something doesn’t go his way.
The Hitman laid out that crybaby Tom Brady with a legal hit. He took out Gonzalez with a legal hit. It’s not his fault that both of them are soft. Maybe they should give up pro football and take up touch football instead. Whinebag Polian should try to sign Pollard so he could take out a few players on the Titans. The Colts need help since the dirtiest team in the league is in their division.
It may be wise for Brady and Gonzalez to pay respect and not make any negative comments or else the Hitman just may put both of them out of the game FOREVER, instead of taking it easy on them and just sidelining them for a season.
Pollard already owns Brady, everytime any defender gets near his legs Brady’s eyes get bugeyed and he panics. Flashbacks will haunt him forever. Courtesy of the Hitman

James Harrison’s hit on Brees was a step late–and rightly flagged during the game. But the still photos show it was a legal hit. That didn’t keep James from getting a $20,000 fine. Gee, if only Pollard had been wearing a Steelers #92, Goodell would have fined him, too.
I don’t believe refs target teams for help or harassment, and I doubt it’s anything personal with Goodell. He’s simply the most unethical, unprincipled executive in professional sports and he’s using Harrison and Tomlin as object lessons to keep other players and coaches in line. So right now he doesn’t need to fine Pollard to make a point. Lucky Pollard.

That may have been “technically” a legal hit because he first touched him while in bounds…but that was a dirty, out of bounds tackle just the same. No doubt. The league needs to to get better consistency with it’s rules/penalties system. Pollard is dirty turd and that was just one more example of it. The fact that he doesn’t get fined for that out of bounds and Myron Pryor does get fined for a perfectly clean hit on Lord Farve is a disgrace. Look at that hit on the Drama Queen and it’s impossible to see why that should be considered wrong in any way.
I’m really not a big fan of Bill Napolian twisting the leagues arm all the time, and abusing his power on the competition committee to contort the rules in favor of his Colts, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him screw this dirty turd Pollard over in some way, shape, or form.

Someone inform the Crybaby Colts that this football and not a ballet recital. No penalty and no fine. It’s whining like this that is ruining the NFL. Polian already whined enough to get the ludicrous illegal contact rule. Does he now want a rule that you can’t hit a player who is running down the sideline?

Wow…This is the second player in Bernard’s career he has injured? It must absolutley mean he’s a cheap shot artist then….It doesn’t matter when Gonzo comes in contact with human air he gets injured as well and more often…
Last year in Houston. The turf crippled Gonzo’s knee, so that must mean that the makers of the “turf” should be fined as well…What? wait, this just in….The whole Texans team should be fined because whenever they play the Colts Gonzo gets his season ended…Hold on….The coaches….Yes, its the Kubiak philosophy to try to end Gonzo’s season asap whenever they play the Colts…If you knock Gonzo out of the game then by golly you have it won…
Pollard shouldn’t be fined and he isn’t a cheap shot artist. In fact if he was, then he is the most overrated cheap shot artist in the history of the NFL and players like Kevin Greene, Jack Tatum, Bill Romanowski, and Rodney Harrison should be friggin irate right now…

I got to watch this clown’s act in KC for two years. He is not “hard-nosed” at all. He is terrible in coverage. He does on occasion get a big hit on a running back. However, there are ten other plays during the game where he flies up for the kill shot only to have his head down and whiff on the RB or tackles a guy without the ball. He makes “highlight” plays but if you watch him every down you would not want him on your team. Would be a good special-teams player.

this makes zero sense…. that hit was clearly late and resulted in serious injury. The hit on Favre was fair and scraped his poor chin! Goodell is completely out of control and someone needs to put his ego in check.

Did you watch the replay of the hit before writing this article? No.
Initial contact was in-bounds, momentum carried both out of bounds. It was a hard but clean mid-body tackle – hence no flag or fine.
Where were you when Favre took out Eugene Wilson’s knee on a low block in preseason ’09? Extolling the virtues of the old gun slinger for his hustle?
Whiners.

If I were Polian, i’d be more worried about my young receiver who seems to be made of porcelain. Is it more that Pollard hit him (which even in this era of player safety, the NFL acknowledges that it was a legal hit), or is it that Gonzalez’s own body seems to be sabotaging him.
Isn’t this the same kid who blew out his knee last year on a non-play?
I love my Texans, and while I’ll be the first to speak up and say that Bernard’s passion for football barely makes up for his ineptitude on the field with blown coverages and whiffs on the playing field, it’s hard to make an argument that these clean/non-hits are anything but a coincidence. Unless of course he’s doing some sort of voodoo ritual before the game.

Lets even things up and allow the LBs and DBs to do what they want…but lets also bring back the wedge blocking, crack back block and the chop block. This should be okay given the size of WR in the league and TE split out wide to perform the crack back on a defenseless LB.

this hit was borderline late hit, as the contact really wasn’t initiated until the guy had a foot out of bounds, but a split second earlier and no one’s talking about it. it’s more the fact that the guy got injured again, but it was only a matter of time. Has anthony gonzalez ever actually played a full game without being injured since being in the nfl? he’s the bob sanders of the offense.

good article. pollard did exactly what it said when he was in KC; could lay a smackdown and block punts, but simply could not tackle open field. figures the player that 1/2 teams didnt want would be a top pick by carl peterson. pollard started for kc, but he prob wouldnt have started anywhere else that early. a 2nd rnd pick, but after 3 years; yeah he is not worth the liability.

I think Polian’s been a season ender for others besides Brady and Gonzalez…
Still, if they’re legal hits they’re legal
What the hell kindof a message does Goodell send if he gives out fines for legal hits just because they were against Colts players?????!!!!!!

# drozman says: November 6, 2010 5:59 PM
Lets even things up and allow the LBs and DBs to do what they want…but lets also bring back the wedge blocking, crack back block and the chop block. This should be okay given the size of WR in the league and TE split out wide to perform the crack back on a defenseless LB.
Of course. What could possibly be more entertaining than having half the league on IR?

@ Facts Domino –
Pollard does a weekly radio show in Houston for an hour, in which the entire time he sounds well educated, well spoken, and as never has a bad thing to say about anyone. What exactly are you referring to in your “ignorant” accusation?

Where there is smoke there is fire…..
How many knees does this guy have to take out before he’s at least spoken to?
If he is ever in the same stadium as Brady, we in Patriot nation know what we’ll have to do……..

Houston Texans fans ( and owner) have shown that they are so desperate to stop choking that they condone cheating and cheap shots of any kind. There is absolutely no need to defend Pollard except that is it second nature to Texan fans to defend anything remotely illegal.I guess that is the result of fan overtraining.

“Facts Domino”
re: Ever heard Bernard talk?
You must have him confused with someone else. Bernard has his own radio show in Houston and comes across as a very intelligent, passionate and thoughtful player.
Get your facts straight.

Pollard started his tackle while they were inbounds and momentum carried them farther out of bounds. Wasn’t a very tough hit. Pollard just fell on top of him.
Since the hit on Brady was a legal hit I don’t understand why that is even an issue. Pollard only hit Brady low because of the block by the New England running back.

@Beast of Eden …
Yes, it’s football. But it was football when Harrison hit Brees, too–a little late, okay, but with a perfectly legal hit (just check the still photos). So why does Goodell fine some players and not others? Because he can. He just picks out which guy he’s going to roast on the spit to make his point. That’s why some of us are complaining … because we despise this unprincipled man’s inconsistency, not because we don’t like contact sports.
(Only addressed this to you because I love your screen name!)

# Buck Stallion says: November 6, 2010 4:06 PM
Late hit, and he drove him into the ground. The NFL has been very inconsistent this year with fines & suspensions
Drove him into the ground when he was 10 yards out of bounds. Clearly a cheap shot.

Those who think Pollard’s hit was late, dirty, cheap, or unnecessary obviously have never played football. “Sideline to sideline” isn’t a meaningless expression. Pollard started the tackle while Gonzalez was still in bounds. That isn’t just the only way to play; it’s also the correct way.
Randall Cunningham was injured in the same manner that Brady was. Why is Pollard at fault or a bad guy and Bryce Paup was “just playing football” when he dove for Randall’s knees?

Anyone who thinks that was a late hit or that Pollard was out to injure Gonzales is a bigger pu$$y than the Polian or the NFL is becoming. They were in the field of play when the tackle started and he didn’t bring him down hard or drive him into the ground. Frickin look at the tape a-holes! Gee, do you think that’s why the NFL didn’t fine him? Because, I don’t know, it was a clean and legal play and Polliard didn’t do anything ‘rough’ during or after the tackle?
Pollard simply tackles ‘glass for bones’ Gonzales and the little wuss gets up hurt. Wow, shocking!! And Polian doesn’t want Pollard? Excellent!! That means they’ll stick with one of their other gimp players (yes, I’m talking about ‘gimp vicious’ Bob Sanders – LOL!) for even longer.